The roof of the timeport demonstrated that over the course of a thousand years, the general design principles behind a car park hadn’t changed particularly. It was exactly as you might have expected, really: a large, flat expanse of black tarmac, with five or six rows of parking bays marked out in straight lines of white paint.
Jennifer was standing over by a convoy of five parked cars, her head turned to look across the horizon. The cars next to her were all black sedans, and had dark privacy glass for windows, which prevented you from seeing inside.
“Come over here and admire the view,” she said.
Geoff did as he told, walking over to where she was standing and looking at the London skyline.
“Doesn’t the city look pretty from up here?” she said. “Why don’t you take a moment to admire it for a second? This will be your last memory of the outside world, after all.”
Geoff stared vacantly into the night. The sky was clear, the air felt warm on his skin, and in the distance he could see the many twinkling lights of office blocks and skyscrapers. Up above them, flying traffic streaked against a backdrop of stars in a blur of red and white light, like millions of differently colored fireflies whizzing backward and forward in perpendicular lines.
“Okay, that’s enough,” she said, motioning him to follow her toward the cars. “Come over here.”
Again, Geoff did what he was told. His mind was a jumble. Part of him was screaming to resist Jennifer’s orders, but at the same time he couldn’t help obeying every instruction he heard. It felt as though his body were being controlled remotely, with his rational mind nothing more than a trapped passenger.
Jennifer tapped her hand on the roof of one of the parked cars. As she did, the doors of every car opened and a number of very large men stepped out. There must have been at least twenty of them, all wearing black suits and earpieces like secret agents charged with looking after a presidential motorcade. Each of them also had a handgun holstered at their side.
“Okay, you know why I’ve hired you,” Jennifer said, standing before them with her hands on her hips, “and you’ve all watched the simulation of what is about to happen. By now, a man from the future named Timothy Burnell has realized what we’re up to, and has worked out that this trip across London is our only moment of vulnerability. Be on your guard, and remember—if Geoff dies, Continuum dies with him. Whatever happens, I need Mr. Stamp to complete this journey alive.”
The men all nodded and slipped back inside their vehicles.
“Come with me,” Jennifer said, leading Geoff to the car in the middle of the convoy.
“Get in,” she said, opening the back door.
Geoff obeyed Jennifer’s instructions and climbed inside. The car had a luxurious white leather interior, with a bottle of chilled champagne resting in the middle of the seating well. As he sat down, he noticed someone sitting on the other side next to him, behind the driver’s seat.
It was William Boyle again, although this time he looked even older than the man who had shot Zoë when they’d traveled to the future. This William was easily in his early sixties. What little hair he had left was completely gray, his skin was pale and wrinkled, and he looked unhealthily thin, his face gaunt.
“W-William?” Geoff said, straining against the influence of the drug to look the man up and down.
“Hello, Geoff,” William said, trying to force a smile.
“H-how old are you?” Geoff stammered.
“I’m not sure anymore,” William said, looking down at his wrinkled hands. “I’ve spent so much time here, there, and everywhere, I’ve lost track.”
Jennifer leaned in and looked at William. “You remember what’s about to happen?” she said.
“Yes ma’am,” William replied, sitting upright as she spoke to him.
“Good. Be ready.” She turned her attention to Geoff. “And as for you—don’t go anywhere.”
She closed Geoff’s passenger door and walked around to the other side of the car.
Geoff couldn’t believe it. All he had to do was open this door and make a run for it, but no matter how hard he tried, his body just wouldn’t obey what he was telling it to do. He wanted to scream until his voice could take it no more, but in this state he could only manage an awkward groan through gritted teeth, a bit like the noise people make when they’re having trouble getting the lid off of a stiff jam jar.
He watched as Jennifer opened the driver’s door, sat down in the driver’s seat, and fastened her seatbelt. He was still making his weird noise, which now sounded like the moment the jam jar lid was about to come loose.
Jennifer looked around. “Buckle up,” she said.
Geoff stopped making his strange noise and fought the command with everything he had. And for a moment, he could feel his hand moving for the door handle instead of reaching for the seatbelt. He knew he had the power to change what was about to happen—hitting Jennifer around the face with that mug had proved it was possible—all he needed to do was think hard enough, and he could break free of whatever spell Jennifer’s drug had cast over him.
“I said, buckle up,” Jennifer repeated.
Geoff’s hand moved away from the door handle, reached behind him, and grabbed the seatbelt, stretching it across his body and fastening it to his side. William did the same, his hands shaking as he pulled the strap across his body.
“Right, I think we’re all set,” Jennifer said, pressing a button on the dashboard. As she did, Geoff felt the car begin to vibrate beneath him, and his ears filled with a high-pitched sound as the antigravity propulsion system revved up.
Jennifer pressed another few buttons in front of her and gripped the steering wheel with both hands.
But then she paused for a moment.
William leaned forward. “Is everything all right, ma’am?” he asked. His voice sounded a little croaky, as if he were unwell.
“I think so,” Jennifer said, looking around at Geoff one last time. “It’s just…I don’t remember him resisting what I was telling him to do like this in the simulations. And I can’t help but feel that there’s something different about him.”
“Different?”
“Yes. But I can’t put my finger on what it is…”
“Should we move to plan B?”
“No,” Jennifer said, facing front again. “My plan is flawless. You just need to do your job, okay?”
“Yes ma’am,” William said, sitting back again.
“Right,” Jennifer said, releasing the handbrake to her side and pulling down on the steering wheel. “Here we go.”
Geoff looked out of the window as the car began to ascend into the sky. The other cars did the same, surrounding their vehicle in a protective formation.
Once they had climbed a few hundred meters in the air, Jennifer pushed the steering wheel forward, and the car began to accelerate. She banked the vehicle to the right, and within a few seconds they had joined a stream of flying traffic heading north. Each car from the convoy took a position to the left, right, front, and back of them.
Geoff pressed his face to the glass and looked down at the streets below. They were very high up, and for a moment he felt as though he were looking down at an incredibly detailed model city, complete with lit-up buildings, moving traffic, and little people walking around.
“Here he comes!” Jennifer said, looking in her rearview mirror and gripping the steering wheel a little tighter.
At that moment there was a loud crash, and the roof of the car buckled in slightly.
Geoff spun around in his seat and looked outside. He could see another vehicle peel away from on top of them—a red sports car—and as he leaned forward to get a closer look, he could see that it was Tim behind the wheel.
“You all right?” Jennifer said, looking around.
“Yes, ma’am,” William said.
“Not you!” Jennifer said. “Geoff—how you doing? Answer me!”
Geoff looked down at his body. He was shaking, but it wasn’t because of nerves. He could feel himself starting to regain control. The more he focused on the idea that he still had the power to change history, the more he found himself able to fight the drug. But he didn’t want Jennifer to know that.
“I’m fine,” he said, putting on a docile voice.
“Good,” Jennifer said, pushing down on the steering wheel. The car reacted by ducking down into another stream of traffic flying beneath them.
Geoff continued to sit still in the back seat as Jennifer sent the car through all sorts of crazy aerial maneuvers, weaving past flying lorries, buses, and cars at an incredible speed. All around, he could hear the blare of angry car horns, and there was the odd moment when he caught a glimpse of people in the surrounding traffic. Inside these vehicles, he could see drivers looking back at them angrily, and as his mental faculties began to return, he began to appreciate just how dangerously they were flying.
Then there came another bump, this time from underneath. This collision was much more violent than the last one, and as they were hit, Jennifer was forced to bank the car on its side to compensate. Geoff slid down toward the passenger door, his body pressed against the window like a sandbag. The direct view of the sheer drop beneath him was terrifying, but then he realized something—if he fell from this height, there was no way he would survive.
And as Jennifer said, if he died, Continuum would die with him.
Geoff finally knew what he had to do.
He had to get out of this car.
And preferably while it was in the air, since getting out once they were parked wasn’t going to be particularly hazardous to his health.
This realization of how he could put an end to Continuum was so powerful it completely overwhelmed whatever inhibitions the drug had placed on him, and he found himself in full control of his body once more. The simulations Jennifer had run might have made her think she was in control of everything, but it seemed the moment she had deviated from what she had witnessed and started teasing Geoff about what he was destined to do, she had set them on a new path—a path where Geoff was able to muster up the will to resist, and break free from her control.
“Where the hell is my protection?” Jennifer screamed, craning her head to look up through the windshield as she leveled the car off.
Geoff lifted his hand up to the door handle, but it was no use—the thing was locked.
William quickly realized what was going on and reached over to grab his hand.
“We’ve got a problem here, ma’am!” he said. “Geoff is trying to get leave!”
“Geoffrey!” Jennifer said, looking at him in her rearview mirror. “Listen to me very carefully! You are to stay completely still, okay? Do not attempt to leave the car.”
Geoff said nothing,
“Do you hear me?” she said.
“You know what?” Geoff said, “I’m getting sick of people telling me what to do!”
Jennifer looked at William.
“Something’s wrong!” she said. “This didn’t happen in the simulation!”
William’s eyes widened.
“It didn’t?”
“No, everything’s changed! You need to do whatever it takes to keep him there!”
William nodded and scooted across the back seat toward Geoff, wrapping his arms around Geoff’s neck to stop him from moving. Geoff tried to wriggle free but it was no use—despite William appearing to be frail, in this position it was incredibly difficult to break free.
Out of the window to the left, Geoff watched as the red sports car came around once more, racing toward them again as if to ram straight into their side. However, moments before it was able to make contact, one of the black cars in Jennifer’s convoy swooped down from above and slammed into its roof, knocking Tim off course.
“That’s right!” Jennifer said. “Keep him away from us!”
Geoff followed the path of the red sports car through the sky, watching as it did an upside-down loop-de-loop and headed straight toward them again from below. The car in pursuit didn’t seem to be capable of pulling off the same maneuver, and within seconds they were rammed again, the underside of the sports car scraping vertically along Geoff’s side of the car.
As Tim made impact, the window next to Geoff shattered, sending bits of broken glass flying inside the car. Suddenly there was an almighty roar as the wind from outside rushed in, and William fell back.
Geoff looked over at the sports car, which was now flying parallel to them. Inside the cabin, Tim was looking back at him. He seemed to be shouting something, but Geoff couldn’t make out what it was.
He tried the door handle again. To his surprise, when he pulled on it this time the latch clicked, and the door flung open. Tim must have damaged the lock when he flew into them.
Tim tried to match the movement of Jennifer’s car, flying as close as possible as if to allow Geoff to jump from her car to his, but at that moment he was shunted from behind by one of the black cars and sent into an uncontrollable spin.
Geoff edged toward the door and looked down through the broken window. Tim appeared to be wrestling with the car to get it back under control, closely followed by two of the black cars.
But Geoff didn’t need Tim to get back up here.
All he needed to do was jump.
“Oh no you don’t!” Jennifer said, seemingly realizing his plan. She banked the car on its side so the open door was facing upward. As she did, the force of the wind ripped the door from its hinges and sent it tumbling toward the streets below.
Geoff fell back into the car and landed on William, who was pressed against the inside of the opposite passenger door facing the ground. Very quickly, he was able to reach around him and try the door handle. He felt the latch click—on this side, they hadn’t bothered locking it.
“No!” William shouted, scrambling at Geoff to try and stop him from opening the door. “Fly level! Fly level!”
“Shit!” Jennifer screamed, looking around at them and tilting the car back the right way up.
As she did, the passenger door flung open. Geoff rolled over William, gripped the doorframe, and began to pull himself outside the vehicle. As he did, though, William grabbed his legs and started to pull him back inside.
But this wasn’t enough to stop Geoff, who turned onto his back and began kicking wildly as though he were in his first swimming lesson. This made it very difficult for William to hold onto him, and his grip slowly began to weaken, allowing Geoff to stick his head and torso out of the car. All he had to do was lean back a little farther and he would fall.
“No you don’t!” William said, lurching forward. He grabbed Geoff by the collar of his suit jacket and started pulling him back inside.
“William, listen to me!” Geoff said. “I can stop this! Do you hear me? I can stop all of this!”
“Continuum is everything to me!” William gasped, struggling to speak as he pulled Geoff back.
“Look at yourself, William!” Geoff shouted, pulling himself farther out again. “Is this what you imagined Continuum would give you? Leaving you old and frail, a servant to Jennifer Adams for the rest of your days?”
Jennifer looked back at William. “Don’t listen to him, William!” she said, “Get him back in this car at once!”
William looked at Jennifer, then back toward Geoff.
“Please, William,” Geoff said. “Let me go.”
“What are you doing?” Jennifer said. “Pull him in right now!”
William’s eyes gazed down once again at his old, withered hands, then back up at Geoff again.
“Let me go,” Geoff said again.
William nodded, and loosened his grip. But as Geoff began to fall backward, Jennifer opened her door and reached out toward Geoff. Her hands darted toward his collar, but with no tie around his neck, she had nothing to grab onto. Had Geoff been wearing one, Jennifer would have easily been able to pull him back inside the vehicle and that would have been that, but instead, she began fumbling with the lapels of Geoff’s shirt, desperately trying to keep hold of him somehow.
But it was no use. Jennifer just couldn’t get a strong enough grip, and within seconds Geoff was completely free from the car and began to plummet through the sky toward the streets below.
“Nooooo!” he heard Jennifer scream from above him.
Despite the wind rushing in his ears and his eyes watering, Geoff experienced a brief moment of calm.
This was it.
This was the end of Continuum.
There was no chance he could survive a drop from this height, unless his fall was about to be broken by a number of inconveniently placed window canopies, hanging laundry, and tarpaulins before landing in a skip outside a bouncy castle factory.
Which would be seriously annoying after all that effort to get out of the car and kill himself.
From here could barely tell how high up he was, but for a while the ground didn’t seem to be approaching him that quickly. He fell through low-hanging clouds, he fell through various streams of flying traffic, and he fell past the tops of the tallest buildings.
To his side, he noticed one of the black cars going into free fall as if to try and catch up with him, but it was no use—there was no way anyone would be able to get to him before he hit the ground.
In the last few seconds before Geoff became a two-dimensional object, time seemed to slow down. He wasn’t sure if this was because in your last moments all kinds of crazy stuff was supposed to happen to your powers of perception, but nonetheless, everything seemed to move in slow motion.
He could now see the terrified faces of the people below, looking up at him as he fell. He could see cars skidding to a halt in the streets, with people climbing out and pointing to him. And he could see the fine texture of the paving slabs he was about to slam into.
He clamped his mouth shut, closed his eyes, and just hoped he wouldn’t make too much of a mess.
But he already had made quite a mess, and the space-time continuum was now busy trying to work out how the hell it was going to clean this all up.